Cockfighting is a popular folk activity among ordinary Chinese people, and to this day, many places are still popular.
In Chinese history, the most prosperous period of cockfighting was the Tang Dynasty.
In the customs of the Tang Dynasty, on the day of the Qingming Festival, the folk would carry out cockfighting activities. The cockfighting at that time was not like it is now, just taking two big roosters that had been trained and fighting each other, and the winner was king. The Tang Dynasty can be said to have raised cockfighting to the artistic realm, not only two chickens fighting each other, but also training roosters to perform various acrobatic performances, which greatly improved the ornamentation.
Tang Xuanzong was a cockfighting fan. It is said that before he became emperor, he often held such cockfighting parties in the palace. After taking the throne, it was even more unfortunate that a chicken workshop was set up in the court to train cockfighting. The roosters were selected throughout Chang'an, and a total of five hundred young soldiers were selected to train these chickens.
On this scale, you can imagine that every morning in Daming Palace, thousands of royal chickens chirp together, and the picture is really beautiful.
There are four basic criteria for the selection of the top cock: first, golden and shiny feathers; second, iron claw-like claws; third, large and tall crown; fourth, the tail is tall and luxuriant, and the number of tail feathers is as many as a thousand.
It is said that "the king of Chu is good at playing waist, the palace people are hungry to death", now the emperor is good at fighting cocks, the folk are precious to chickens, whether it is the prince Fujia family, or the common people, are crazy to take money to buy good fighting cocks, a time the price of chicken soared, many people even took out all their money to buy a chicken, got bankrupt, and staged the ancient Chinese version of the "Dutch tulip" bubble economy.
Men, women and children, all of them are capable of making chickens, and whoever tames a chicken is a cow. What if I can't afford to buy chickens? There are many poor families who have made fake chickens to play, which is really a crazy era when the whole people play with chickens.
In such a fanatical atmosphere, many masters of cockfighting and chicken training naturally emerged, among them, there was a very powerful chicken taming genius, this person was called Jia Chang.
Jia Chang was a naughty boy, when he was seven years old, he was very athletic, he could climb up the pillar and sit on the beam, and he was also very flexible in talking to people, but incredibly, he seemed to know the language of birds.
Once, Xuanzong was out on a trip and saw a child of about seven years old dancing on the side of the road playing with wooden chickens. Xuanzong was an expert, and he was shocked at first glance, this child did clearly train the professional movements of cockfighting, and there was a look.
Therefore, Emperor Xuanzong ordered this child to be summoned to the chicken workshop in the palace, became a chicken trainer, and gave it a formal establishment, which was organized in the Right Dragon Martial Army, with a fixed salary.
Xuanzong really didn't look away, this child was simply a genius.
At that time, Jia Chang was less than a meter tall, and walking into the flock, I am afraid that he was not much taller than these tall and mighty cocks.
But Jia Chang's talent is very good in the chicken workshop, and he can be called a natural chicken expert. Which chicken is strong, still weak, which chicken is brave or timid, when to feed and water, the symptoms of chicken problems, are all clear.
Casually taking out two cocks, this seemingly fierce cockfighting, when it reached Jia Chang's hand, they all became extremely obedient and very afraid of him. Jia Chang said look up, it would never dare to bow its head, Jia Chang said to the left, it would never dare to go to the right, listening to his password is like a person.
Jia Chang's miraculous move had long been reported to Emperor Xuanzong. Emperor Xuanzong did not believe it at first, so he summoned Jia Chang to the temple and personally selected two chickens to test on the spot. Jia Chang trained cockfighting on the spot, and sure enough, it was the same as people said. Emperor Xuanzong was overjoyed, and promoted him to the CEO of The Chicken Fang on the spot, becoming the chief instructor of five hundred forbidden palace chicken trainers.
When it comes to the Yuanhui and Qingming Festivals, Xuanzong will hold a grand royal carnival in Lishan, and on this day, various cultural and sports teams from the court to the people will participate.
Jia Chang ushered in the highlight moment of his life. His appearance is very eye-catching, wearing the gorgeous cockfighting suit of the cos beautiful rooster, directing the flock of chickens, and standing in a neat and uniform manner in the middle of the square. With an order, I saw that these roosters actually did a large group exercise, with a basis for retreat, Gu Pan was like a god, Jia Chang commanded the wind, and the other cultural and sports representative teams were stunned and did not dare to perform.
After Jia Chang's performance, let the chicken steaks that perform well be in the front, and the chicken steaks that perform poorly in the back, take the lead himself, as if the geese lined up and returned to the chicken square.
Emperor Xuanzong was very gracious to Jia Chang, and even when he went to Mount Taishan to seal Zen, he had to let him follow with three hundred chickens.
Therefore, Jia Chang was called "God Chicken Boy" by the people of the world, and later Xuanzong also found him a beautiful star wife, one was favored by the emperor because of cockfighting, and the other was favored by Yang Guifei because of dancing, and the couple enjoyed all the glory and wealth in the palace.
At that time, there was a poem circulated in the folk: "Children do not need to read, cockfighting is better than reading, the Jia family is thirteen years old, and the rich and prosperous generation is not as good." ”
It can be seen how much Jia Chang's development hit the readers at that time, everyone no longer needs to read, go to the cockfighting, you have read all your life, you may not be as good as Jia Chang, a thirteen-year-old child.
Therefore, some people have said to the emperor that you belong to the chicken, why do you love cockfighting so much? This is the sign of national chaos. But Xuanzong remained obsessed. Sure enough, in the fourteenth year of Tianbao, the "Anshi Rebellion" broke out, and Emperor Xuanzong fled in a daze, and was forced by a mutiny at Ma Songpo to kill Yang Guifei. After the rebel army was calmed down and returned to Chang'an, the thousand imperial chickens were already gone.
Jia Chang, who had fled with Xuanzong, also returned to Chang'an and met his wife and children on the side of the road. The son carried the firewood he had collected, and his wife, dressed in a worn-out cotton jacket, was so hungry that her face was a vegetable, not like a human. The family reunites, hugs each other and cries.
Jia Chang recalled the glory of the past and the misery of the present, and suddenly realized that he had escaped into the empty door.